Book binding: stapling

The obvious solution is the long arm stapler. We all want the mighty long arm stapler for simplifying our lives, but buying that one stapler seems expensive. Instead of trying to buy one for cheap on ebay or whatnot, we can use just the average stapler.

So you have your pages ready, your stapler filled with staples, and for this to work, get an eraser, or those sticky putty thing, playdoh, whatever soft.

Put the eraser below your pages, open the stapler wide, and just press onto it.

Flip it over, the eraser is stuck onto it, but you can just pull it off.

The staple will be sticking out, so you can just use your fingernails (yikes), or spoons, rulers, coin to bend it down. There! You stapled in the middle of a book without the long arm stapler!

An alternative is this made in Japan stapler called Hotchikuru MAX HD-10V. I bought it from Amazon Japan, you can probably try and find it in Asian stationery shops or ebay.

It uses #10 staples, which is the standard in Asia. However, “Standard staples” in North America is a different bigger size. These days it’s easy to buy #10 staples in dollar stores where they import the stuff from China.

The magic is that the middle part swivels for 90 degrees.

…and you can staple just like that!

My green coloured dollar store #10 staple.

Dirchansky said I should do a size comparison, so here it is. The smaller MAX staplers weigh around 50grams, the small black Bostitch is double that, and Bostitch long arm is quite heavy. While the MAX Hotchikuru would be lightweight for last minute convention stapling, Bostitch long arm is heavy duty enough to staple hundreds of comics and zines without breaking.